For You, A Second Chance
by Angela Evil
Summary: Something has happened to reset all of Gravity Falls and no one can remember what. Only Mabel understands that something is wrong as she struggles to recall someone that has been taken from her. Time is running out however, by the end of the summer it will be to late. [Short Chapters] T for cartoon violence, mild depression, and dark themes. I did the cover art myself this time :D
1. Chapter 1: Rewind

_Dipper Pines is dead._

Chapter 1: Rewind

Mabel stumbled out of the city bus into the stifling Oregon summer. Her mind felt clouded, hazy like the early morning. There was something she couldn't quite remember and it nagged at her; she'd forgotten someone important. The weight of her luggage slumped onto her back as she stood rooted in place, devoid of joy. Moisture dappled her cheeks, her eyes felt warm. Mabel lifted a shaking palm to her face wondering why. _Why am I crying? Why… do I feel like I've lost something… I...I-_

She was cut off from her brooding, a momentary flight in her normally amiable personality, by someone stumbling past her on the sidewalk. He was tall, comparatively speaking, and wore ratty clothes. She might have thought him attractive but something in the back of her mind screamed 'keep away'.

He'd tried to smooth talk her and she could tell he was being flirty. "No thanks," she responded hurriedly, "I have to get to my great uncles before he starts worrying about me."

Mabel quickly grabbed her belongings and sped away. When she glanced back she saw an angry expression. One of his hands fell off and she freaked out even more.

* * *

Grunkle Stan, he insisted she call him that, seemed nice enough for a grumpy old codger. Wendy was great, and Soos was one cool 'dood'. She hummed happily to herself all the way up the stairs and into the attic room. Something just felt so familiar, so homey about the space. Her mood picked up, back to its cheerful self. When she reached the old door something like anticipation crawled in her stomach. Somehow she knew what lay beyond, just barely able to picture it.

Mabel flung the door open with an excited giggle and busied herself with her side of the space. "This is going to be the best summer ever, right D-" The name died on her tongue. What had she been about to say again? _What was with that 'my half' too? It's not like I have anyone to share it with._

She let her shoulders slump as she dropped onto her made up bed, eyes drawn to the empty, unmade mattress on the other side. Mabel grabbed her sweater sleeves, tears once again springing to life on her face. The world hazed and blurred. The laugh of a young boy filled her room, ethereal and staticy, like she was hearing it through a wall. A distorted picture of a youth, her age and very similar in appearance was sitting on the other bed. It was made up and there was all of his belongings. When she looked at him her heart broke.

"Hey Mabel, I- Woah, kid are you okay."

Her head snapped to the doorway where her Grunkle stood, looking very concerned, though he quickly tried to hide it. "Hu?" Why had he asked her that? She couldn't remember what she'd just been doing, looking down at the sheets on her bed, wrinkling the fabric between her fingers.

"If this is a bad time, I'll come back later."

"No!" She reached an arm out, desperate not to be alone again… Again? She couldn't explain what this sadness was nor why she felt it, but she did know one thing, she was never meant to be alone. "Please stay."

Grunkle Stan paused a moment glancing back down the stairs awkwardly before slowly making his way over and sitting down on the bed next to her. "Do you want to talk abou- Uff." Mabel had latched onto his waist and began crying again, letting out what she didn't realize she'd been holding in. "Well, I think I know what this is all about. Upset at your parents for sending you away for the summer, hu? Parents are the worst sometimes, but hey, at least you get to spend time with your Grunkle Stan!"

Mabel sniffed a few times. She'd only just met the old man and was already feeling comforted by what he'd said. "Yeah, thank you Grunkle Stan."


	2. Chapter 2: Take Two

_Mabel Pines can't remember him._

Chapter 2: Take Two

Mabel stumbled out of the shack into the late evening, the nocturnal denizens of the forest just waking up. Something about nights in Oregon were soothing. The gravel driveway bit lightly into her tender feet as she walked in circles around the big, fake totem out front. She felt a gust of wind rip through the trees, playfully blowing her hair around. Giggling at first she turned to face the wind, only to freeze. It felt like something was watching her from the shadows.

Her smile dropped at the unseen stare. "Who's there?" as if in response the wind boiled up behind her, shoving her to the ground and preventing her from standing properly. Every time she rose the wind picked up again, pushing her into the forest. "No! Stop it!" Mabel scrambled to a stop against a large pine tree. The wind again pushed her into the bark when she stood. A hollow reverberating thump echoed as her hand struck it. The gale immediately stopped.

Mabel knocked on the trunk, once, twice, thrice more before her fingers found a purchase to pry it open. Inside was a control panel of some kind. Curious, she tapped a few buttons. A hissing, grating sound met her ears and she looked behind her.

In the ground some two paces from the tree was an alcove lit with dim lights, clearly old and worn. Mabel slowly made her way over, kneeling down. An old book with a golden hand pasted to the front lay inside, it too looked weathered and beaten. She lifted it out and blew the dust off, coughing as she inhaled some. The journal was labeled '3' and it looked that only half the pages were actually filled out. The writing just abruptly stopped. It seems however, to contain two sets of handwriting, the original entries and encrypted notes.

Just looking at the old thing was making Mabel's head buzz. Something desperate within her continued to flipping through the book, hoping, searching. Bold letters caught her attention "Do not summon at all costs," she murmured the words to herself, hanging on each one. A blacked out image of the eye of Providence was next to scrawling text 'Bill Cipher'. Both of these images had large red 'x's over them with the warning underlined. Whoever added the addendums to the journal really meant for the next reader to not summon this Bill character.

Mabel moved to put the journal back but froze again. Her arms were shaking and tears sprang into rebirth leaving her vision blurred, though they never left her eyes. She pulled the book close to her chest and cradled it. This was something that belonged to the boy she'd seen earlier. The memory of that vision springing into her mind. She didn't cry this time, she refused to. "I'm going to find you." She spoke the words hoping that somehow he'd heard them.


	3. Chapter 3: Unwanted Affection

_Stan Pines is a liar._

Chapter 3: Unwanted Affection

This last week had been hectic. Between helping out in the shop, studying the journal, and trying to piece together the mysteries of Gravity Falls, Mabel was pooped. She recalled the events of the last few days, pacing in her room. She'd converted the unused space into a mystery chart and pursued it with single minded purpose, often solving them in unconventional ways.

What bothered her the most was a constant sense of _deja_ _vu_ and an emptiness that accompanied her everywhere. It's like she had already live through all of the big things. Like how after she made wax Stan, and the subsequent beheading, she somehow knew to go into the wax museum room with a heat lamp set to max. The statues had come to life and tried to kill her, but she had the heat lamp and was able to melt them all. She'd had a duel with Sherlock Holmes, kicking him off of the roof at sunrise. He melted before hitting the ground.

Mabel added another point on her Mystery Board when Soos knocked. "Come in," she called cheerily.

"Heya Dood, there's this awesome marathon going on. Like a ton of the coolest stuff on TV and we're treating it like a movie night, you should join."

"That sounds awesome I'll be down in a minute." There was a sinking feeling in her gut and it told her another mystery was about to begin.

Once they had all gathered around the grungy old TV set it was on to channel surfing, first to find the marathon and then to skip the ads. However as one such skip was about to occur, Mabel grabbed the remote up.

"Hey," Stan grumbled.

"Shh, I want to see this one." It was an advertisement for lil' Gideon's tent of Telepathy.

"Ugh, that little charlatan is my mortal enemy and no one who's under my roof is going to that tent of his."

"Hmm, but if we go, we won't technically be under a roof." Mabel added slyly.

Stan squinted his eyes in a defeated gesture, "Touche."

"Yes!" Soos said, lifting a fist into the air.

* * *

The ride to the tent and the opening wait hadn't been to interesting. Soos did give a death glare at lil' Gideon's janitor. They look strikingly alike. Creepy. Once the show started however Mabel really could see the allure of this place. Gideon's cute little pudgy dance moves as he sung to a jazzy piano beat were captivating. She hadn't noticed that she stood up until Gideon came over a sung a verse about her.

While she was impressed something in the back of her mind nagged her to be cautious around the younger boy.

* * *

They began hanging out, and it was nice to have someone around that appreciated the sparkly things in life. Gideon was incredibly refreshing, a break from a growing lonesomeness that threatened her every waking moment. Yet she could never quite feel totally relaxed around him. Somewhere in a corner of her mind Mabel knew that this was going to end badly.


	4. Chapter 4: Clue

_Bill Cipher has come and gone._

Chapter 4: Clue

Mabel was invited over to Gideon's house for another date and while she didn't want to lose him as a friend she didn't like him the way he like her. She paced in her room, bemoaning to herself about the situation she'd gotten into. That feeling of being watched never left her since she'd found the journal. Paranoia about Gideon's questionable psychic abilities certainly didn't help.

It was sunset when she looked out her bedroom window, somehow feeling relaxed after three days of stress. She walked over and flopped down onto her bed. Mabel tried again to picture the boy's face, screwing her eyes shut and wrinkling her brow.

"Wow, Shooting Star, don't give yourself a headache."

Her eyes shot open and she bolted upright. The sky had turned into its black sheet, stars stabbing their way through the darkness, the room felt colder too. "H-hello?" Somehow that voice had seemed so familiar to her, but it was different at the same time, not quite how it should have been. Just like the voice had warned her, Mabel clutched her head, a dull ache riding over her skull. "Ugh."

Somehow she'd managed to fall back asleep.

* * *

Gideon arrived on the Shack's front step the next morning, on horseback no less. Grunkle Stan was halving business talks with Mr. Gleeful and she was getting more nervous by the day. "Milady," Gideon bowed at the waist, extending a hand down to her. With his help she scrambled up into the saddle behind him. He smelt like copious amounts of hair product and it made her nauseous.

Once they arrived at the Gleeful house she was whisked away into his bedroom. She tried to enjoy the makeup sessions, the knitting and bedazzling, but something kept nagging at her. Ever since the first time she'd seen Gideon, something possessed her to keep the journal on her person at all times, for safe keeping. Sometimes she'd notice the silver haired boy rummaging through cupboards and cabinets, looking for something in the Shack, and now it was her turn to snoop.

When the ice cream trucks tune came whistling past Gideon jumped up all excitedly. "Mabel would you like to come get ice cream with me?"

"I'd love to Giddy," she tried to sound as sweet as possible. Fortunately she hadn't finished what she was working on and used it as an excuse, giving him a list of complicated direction on what flavor to get her, hopefully buying some extra time.

As soon as his feet disappeared down the hall, Mabel ducked back into his room and began carefully going through everything. Not messing anything up but still seeing everything she could. It wasn't long till she found a journal marked with '2'. She gasped, so lost in thought that she'd not noticed Gideon come back in.

"Mabel? What 'ave you got there."

"I- uh." It was too late to salvage the situation, "I'm sorry Giddy. I wasn't going to read it, I swear! It's just-"

"Give me that!" he snapped, swiping the journal from her hands. He glared at her for a moment, taking in her shocked expression before his own features softened. "I'm sorry, Mabel dear, my temper gets the better of me sometimes."

"I-it's okay." After a moment it became apparent that she needed to defuse tension and what better opportunity to dispel his suspicions as well. "That's a cool looking diery you've got. Is there more than one of them or something?"

"Oh, diery, yes, that's exactly what it is. Yes, there are two of them but one was stolen from me. It's full of all my deepest reflections and I'd really like it back."

"D-did Grunkle Stan steal it? I mean he is kinda a thief by trade…"

"Yes, precisely. Oh, Mabel, you truly know my heart." He took her hand in his own after placing the journal down on his showman's vanity. Mabel laughed nervously in response.


	5. Chapter 5: Repercussions

_Lil' Gideon has big plans._

Chapter 5: Repercussions

Grunkle Stan slumped in the Dinner booth across from Mabel. They'd spent all day trying to get him to be more attractive, partially as a distraction from Gideon, partially from the nightmares. She'd been plagued by bad dreams though she could never remember them when she woke up.

"Don't worry Grunkle Stan, maybe it just wasn't meant to be. Lazy Susan is nice but she's got that crazy cat lady vibe."

Stan sighed, "Yeah maybe you're right. Besides, I hate cats they're the only things better at conning people than me." He'd straightened up, even adding a chuckle at the end. "Y'know, I don't know how my summer would have turned out without you, kid." The old man gave her a warm smile, it was nice to see the special brand of caring that only Grunkle Stan could give.

It was that caring and advice from Wendy that convinced her to break things off with Gideon. He apparently flipped when he got home and Mabel was glad she hadn't seen it.

* * *

After the party, the next few days were relatively quite, aside from discovering and rescuing a weird president; telling Pacifica that her family really hadn't found anything, with proof; getting a pig, she named him Waddles; discovering time travel, generally making a muck of the timestream; accidentally bringing a video arcade game to life, well multiple arcade games, and boy that was a mess; another attempt from Gideon to take over the Shack, Grunkle Stan was really on top of handling that.

Oh, now that she thought about it there was even halloween in the summer, she got to be in charge of the Shack for a day which was a disaster -never use real monsters for the displays-, they all fell into the bottomless pit only to be spat out the top again, and she rescued a mirman.

Okay so maybe quite wasn't the way to describe it, but it felt quite. It felt mundane even through all the wierd that was happening. It felt right to be solving the mysteries. She'd almost been able to forget the feeling of wrong that came when she was all alone, staring at her Mystery Board. She was just trying to find out who this boy was, even though there were so many other things going on. It just felt like he was more important.

"Hello," her friend Candy snapped her fingers in front of Mabel's face, "earth to Mabel. It's your turn."

"Ah, okay...hmm, truth."

"Alright," Grenda's beautiful deep voice punctuated Candy's giggle.

"What do you think about when you're alone?"

Mabel's mouth hung open slightly and both her friends leaned forward, probably expecting a tumult of rainbows and kittens or something like that. Her throat tightened like she was being strangled, something was begging her not to answer, not to wake them up too, but she said it anyway. "I think that… the world is wrong." Both her friends looked taken aback, "It's like there's a big hole right through the middle of my life and someone isn't here, but he used to be."

"Are you talking about when you were dating lil' Gideon?"

"No! It's- He's… I don't know! Every time I try to remember it's like the answers run away and no matter how fast I chase them down they just keep getting farther and farther, an-" She was cut off by a racking sob, curling her legs up to her chest. Candy and Grenda immediately pressed in to try and soothe her. When she looked up at them again she could see glazing in their eyes and they both seemed somewhere far away.

Mabel sniffed, "Guys?"

"I-I know that feeling," Candy was the first to speak, "like something was wrong but…"

"It's never been as bad as you described." Grenda finished the thought and Candy nodded.

Mabel rose to her feet, still in her party pj's and walked over to her Mystery Board. She turned back to face her girls and slammed her fist against the corc surface. "Then let's find him, that person who's gone missing."


	6. Chapter 6: Avoiding Shadows

_Mabel won't find him in time._

Chapter 6: Avoiding Shadows

So after getting sidetracked from their mission to find this missing person by a creepy hidden room in the Shack, freeing a cloned boy band, getting in a fight with Grenda and Candy about what's important only to repair their friendship, and Waddles being pig-napped by a pterodactyl, the three Mystery Girls had compiled enough evidence to prove that this guy existed, but also just enough to say that he didn't as well, and Mabel was losing hope.

Over half a summer of searching and she still felt no closer to the end, no matter how far she'd come. The three of them went out into the woods again, following for the fifth time the path the wind had blown her down. Mabel could feel her limbs give up before she did, flopping onto the ground to stare up at the stars. Candy and Grenda joined her.

"Girls, I'm starting to feel hopeless."

"We can't give up know, Mabel, who knows just how long it will take."

"Yeah, whatever erased our missing person had to be powerful." Grenda shifted her hands above her head, "If only there was someone who could just tell us all the answers."

Mabel sat upright, the image of the final journal page flashing in her mind along with a screaming voice telling her it was a _very_ bad idea. "Maybe there is."

Just then she heard a giggle that sent ice through her blood. Gideon. She took off running leaving her friends to scamper after her through the thick underbrush. Mabel stumbled to a stop on the edge of a candle lit clearing, a picture of Grunkle Stan with a big red 'x' over his eyes in the center. Gideon stood just on the edge of the candle circle, doubled over in pain before a string of nonsensical words were pulled from his mouth.

The entire world slowed and distorted, color draining out of everything but the humans in and around the open ground. A large orb ot light appeared in the sky just above the summoning circle. The glowing sphere turned black and rippled, condensing into the shape of a triangle. The eye of Providence adorned the shape and Mabel felt like her breath had been pulled from her lungs. Again the triangular shape morphed until it was human in shape, the eye remaining on the upper portion of the face. Clothes of black and gold covered over its star-dabbled body.

A cackling laughter filled the air and Mabel recognized it from her dream before, when she'd tried to remember the missing boy's face. "Oh? Oh! Gravity Fall! It's good to be back!" What it wore was a black tailored suit with a bright yellow-gold tailcoat. When the figure gave an excited spin mid air, Mabel could see the same eye pattern on his back. Runes in an orange-gold covered him, hovering just over his clothes in intricate swirling patterns. From the pale hints of flesh around his lower jaw and neck it was clear that the markings- which extended from his ankles to his jugular, curved up his sides, and over his back- were part of his skin. It seemed like some kind of spell.

Nothing could be discerned of a face as it was covered by a cloth with the eye on it as well. When he spoke, for Mabel decided he sounded male, she could just make out the gleam of his teeth. As if to make up for the lack of facial features, his voice and arms did all of his expressing. It was clear that he was wearing black gloves as the skin of his wrists could sometimes be seen.

In her contemplation Mabel had almost missed his introduction. The being adjusted his black bowtie, then his floating top hat, adding notice to his tree-bark brown hair with a shock of bright gold running through it. "The names Bipper, and I take it you're some kind of living ventriloquist dummy?" He burst into a raucous laughter before flicking a finger under his cloth mask, likely to wipe away a jolly tear. "Nah, I'm just messing with you Gideon." He snickered some more.

"W-what are you? How do you know my name?" This was clearly not what anyone had in mind.

"Oh, I know lots of things... _lots of things_ ," his voice distorted as he spoke, images rapidly flashing in his golden coat. "Hey look what I can do!" His voice was back to normal. Bipper flicked his hand towards a deer that had been grazing nearby. It's jaw opened and all the teeth came flying into his hand. "Here you go, deer teeth." he laughed as he dumped them into Gideon's hands.

The silver haired boy screeched as he dropped them. "Y-you're insane!"

"Sure I am," Bipper reclined back into the air, "what's your point?" He lifted a finger and lazily drew circles in the air causing the teeth to shudder and whiz back into the deer's mouth. It took off into the woods a few seconds later.

"Nhg. Listen, I've got a job for you demon." Gideon pointed, trying to seem intimidating, "I want you to enter the mind of Stanford Pines and steel the combination to his safe!"

Mabel and her friends gasped from where they hid.

"Hmm, Stan Pines." Bipper turned around so that he was facing away. Two images flashed quickly in his coat before he turned to face Gideon again. "Y'know what kid, you've convinced me. I'm sold. I'll help you with this and in return you help me with something I've been working on." He extended a hand towards Gideon, "We'll work out the details later."

"Deal."

Bipper's palm erupted in blue flames as they shook hands and the demon laughed. "Well, this should be fun," another orb of glow burst into existence behind him, "Remember, reality is an illusion, the universe is a hologram, buy gold, bye~"

* * *

Mabel jerked awake where she had been kneeling, keenly aware that they had all fallen asleep. She grabbed her shoulders and shuddered. Something about Bipper was terrifyingly similar but certain parts from two different people, people that she couldn't remember. Her grip on her journal tightened from where she had it stowed in her sweeter. "Girls we're going to get our answers about Him tonight, common."

"Where are we going?"

"To save my Grunkle Stan."


	7. Chapter 7: Dreamscaper's Reprise

**StkAmbln** **\- you sir, always make my day. Thank you for reading, really. Thank you.**

* * *

 _He didn't want her to remember._

Chapter 7: Dreamscaper's Reprise

The girls rushed back to the Shack, tripping over branches, scratching themselves up in their haste. Once inside there was a haunted atmosphere to the whole place, like they'd walked into an old horror movie. Everything was black and white with the exception of doors, many of which didn't exist in reality. Mabel knew this wasn't real because she'd seen it before. Many times before, in her nightmares, in the fleeting walking moments between agony and emptiness.

Bipper's glowing shape could be seen moving from door to door, lazily gazing in a few, quickly slamming shut others with a careless apathy. She briefly found herself considering how he could even see with that cloth covering his eyes. "Hmm? Shoot Star? H-How did you…" He trailed off staring at her, the familiar feeling of it sinking in through her shoulders.

"Bipper! Get out of my Grunkle's mind!" That felt like the right thing to say.

The demon sighed lightly, irritation creeping in at the edge of his voice, "Look Shooting Star, not that it isn't nice to see you but, I'm kinda busy at the moment. Job to do, world to conquer, bla bla bla, y'know. I'll play with you later, okay?"

"No!" Mabel launched herself at the glowing young man, taking him to the ground, "You're not running from me again!" Her hands gripped the front of his suit with obstinate fury.

"Oh? You are going to stop _me_?" He floated up, taking Mabel with him, a grin just barely visible, "You and what army?"

Mabel glanced over to the Shack's entrance realizing just then that she was entirely alone in the mindscape with an all powerful dream-demon. The words she wanted to say, the feelings she couldn't understand much less express choked her. Beneath her slackened grip the strong steady beat of Bipper's heart was matched perfectly to her own. She looked at him, the question literally burning on her lips, drying her mouth and making it hard to swallow, but still frustratingly out of reach. "M-make a deal with me," she finally spluttered.

"W-what? Ngh!" Bipper was suddenly flat on his back laying on the Shack floor. The impact jarred Mabel almost as much as it had Bipper, the young man grunting at her weight on his chest. "Shooting Star maybe you'd feel even a little inclined to _get off_!"

"Ah! Sorry!" Mabel shot up onto her feet and took a half step back before realizing what she'd just said. Did she really just apologize? To Bipper!? One of her hands tangled in her hair as a surge of pain prickled along her scalp.

"Don't think about it too much, you'll hurt yourself." Bipper spoke curly and crossley, floating to his feet and brushing dust from his suit, smoothing out the glowing gold fabric. He pulled a cane into existence and leaned forward on it, a bright toothy grin present under his mask. "Now, a deal you say?"

"I- uh…" Mabel really didn't know what to do, what she _could_ do, what she could ask for. It was all too sudden, spending the entire summer trying to find someone only to just wish up an answer. Would she be satisfied with just that? No, there was a more pressing question: could she really live with herself not knowing? No. There was her answer, "Tell me who you took."

"Hu?"

"T-The boy who you took from me, tell me who he is, give him back! I'll pay anything I have to, just give me back what you took!" How did she know it was Bipper who took Him? She couldn't have known but it felt right, the heart beat's echo still ringing against her palm. She clenched the hand and pulled it close to her chest, tears demanding egress from her eyes. "Please," the sound, the word, the emotion slipped of her tongue easily and hung in the air. Mable lowered her gaze, unable to stare any longer into that fake face with it's cloth eye and sadistic grin, a grin that faded at her plea.

"No."

Her eyes snapped back up to the fabric soul. "What?"

"No. I-I can't do that. I won't."

"Bu- Why?"

"Don't waste my time!" he snapped only momentarily seeming to regret the action. "Either ask for something else or leave me be. I'm very busy as it is and I've not the leasure of playing around."

"T-That's not fair! You have to-"

"I don't have to do _anything_ , Shooting Star." Bipper straightened up fully, the cane shattering into light in his grip. "I've got a job to do; it's time for you to _wake up_."

* * *

Mabel shot off the Shack floor, both Candy and Grenda were leaning over her with worried looks. "Oh my goodness, Mabel are you okay?"

"Wha? Where?"

"You just suddenly passed out! It didn't look like you were breathing either!" Candy frantically started checking her eyes with a bright flash light. "We were so worried!" Candy latched onto her waist and Grenda pulled them both into a bear hug.

"Girls," she tapped their arms lightly, "I'm fine but it doesn't look like we'll be getting any answers from Bipper the nice way."

"Are we going to beat them out of him," Grenda pulled back, tapping a fist against her open palm.

"Yep. We're going to kick him out of Grunkle Stan's mind in the process. Common, I know how to get us all in." They stood and walked into the living room where Stan was sleeping in his armchair, eyes open and glowing blue despite him being out cold. Mabel swallowed, her hand felt warm like someone was holding it, the heartbeat loud in her ears. "Here we go."


	8. Chapter 8: False Clarity

_I am not him._

Chapter 8: False Clarity

"This is boring," my voice echoed through the Mindscape Shack's empty corridors, "I already know where the safe combination is, why don't I just take it and leave already?" I don't know why I feel the need to voice my thoughts aloud; maybe it has something to do with reaffirming my existence. The sound of me thinking, feeling, understanding. It's so easy to lose myself in the infinite but I don't want to disappear.

I let my feet touch the ground, the solidity of Grunkle Stan's mind keeps me rooted in place. "Do you even miss me, I wonder. Stanlie." I laugh to myself, the hollow sound bubbling up from my hollow heart. "How absurd, of course you don't. I made it that way. You must hate me for it, right~!"

Quite greets me, flowing out into the mindscape like a mist, swirling around my glowing body. I'm a spark of brilliance in the dark. Memories behind these doors, in these halls, all of them I've locked away here. Planted false ones in their place. It's such a simple thing to do; to remove someone from existence entirely.

A groan cracks through the colorless wooden walls in response my presence. The shuddering of the Shack sent my pulse racing in anticipation of what's yet to come, the entirety of Stan's Mindscape shifted around me. More people have entered this place.

My mind is calm on the surface but the shaking of my hand reveals the deep sleeper in my subconscious. The door that stopped in front of me, I remember so well what lies beyond. I won't go in because if I do, I'll stop being me. The scuff of my glove against the decrepted knob pulls away at my sense of self, searing the seal over my flesh with even more intensity.

"There he is!" Her shout reaches me before her fist. Instead of taking the abuse, I open a hole in the mindscape sending her stumbling behind me. Shooting Star recovered quickly and tried to throw another swing.

Catching her hand was easy, the contact sent a violent pulse through my chest. Dread takes the last of my restraint.

* * *

"Persistent aren't you." Bipper sneered over his shoulder while Mabel struggled to break her hand free of his grip. The warmth in her palm had turned to a blazing heat fueled by everything she desired to know. It didn't feel like her will was controlling the limb anymore.

Mabel grabbed his forearm like a vice. The plan was working, Bipper wasn't paying any attention to her friends, "Now Grenda!"

He gave a short "Hu?" before snapping his cloth covered face to Grenda. Mabel's back up was dressed like a super-heroine, having caught a handle of the mindscape's power, and charged her fist into his gut. The glowing demon's grip slackened enough for Mabel to get her hand away. Candy imagined an intricate chain trap that wrapped around his limbs and yanked him into the wall. "Gah!"

"Now," Mabel's breathing was heavy from the concentration it took the three girls just to pin Bipper in place, "you're going to leave my Grunkle's mind and give Him back." She hadn't expected the dream demon to laugh. It was a cold, cruel sound dripping with malice and contempt. "W-What's so funny?"

"Really?" Red boiled into Bipper's coat, "You think _this_ is anywhere near enough power to hold _me_!?" His voice boomed in the empty halls, echoed by the creaking of metal forced to bend.

The girls took steps back, panic welling up in Mabel's chest followed shortly by a desperate determination. Warmth cut through the chill of Bipper's mad laughter, sweeping through her body with its' presence. The boy who had been taken was somewhere near, or so it felt, and she wasn't going to give up so easily. If only she could just see him! "No, I don't want to hold you, Bipper; I want to beat you." She was compelled to closed the distance, heart hammering in her throat, lifting a hand to the mask on his face.

The demon froze momentarily before he violently tried to pull his head away. "Stop it," it came out as a desperate whisper, some strange force trying to force back Mabel's hand. A soft, warm, light poured from her blazing palm. "Stop it!" Bipper roared with such a ferocity that Mabel was thrown against the opposing wall.

"Ugh," Mabel slid to the ground just as the chains shattered. The backlash sent both Candy and Grenda skidding onto their backs, and Bipper was standing, burning a blood red color in his rage. Mabel grabbed her wrist, pain shooting up her arm from the blazing palm. A glowing figure stood between Bipper and her, arms spread in a shielding gesture. It was the boy, the one she couldn't remember, the one she cherished. Though his face was still distorted the familiar vest, red t-shirt, and trademark pinetree baseball cap swept her away in a feeling of intense sorrow.

"You!" Bipper whisper shouted in shock, "T-That's not possible." The demon's gloved hands seized his head as he let out an agonize shout, stumbling back against the wall. "NO! Shut up! SHUT UP! I'm not- Augh!"

The glowing, transparent figure of Mabel lost one moved forward, reaching out to the mask on Bipper's face. The demon again reacted violently to the contact, seizing the nameless boy by the throat and slamming him onto the ground. "You. Are. Dead!"

They struggled like that for a moment, Mabel unable to so much as twitch as she watched Bipper kill Him. Tears poured from under the demon's mask when he gave the final snap, shattering His image into a shower of glowing light. Each little orange-gold spec of glow drifted up and melted into Bipper's skin. A very slight, sighing sob pulled from the glowing figure.

The mindscape Shack shattered leaving them all in the living room, Bipper kneeling and each of the girls lying where they'd fallen asleep. Grunkle Stan jolted awake and shouted in shock at the golden demon. Mabel scrambled to her feet and seized Bipper's collar, tears shot to her eyes. "You killed him!"

Bipper's mask lay over his face, angled up towards her. The dream demon's arms hung limply at his sides, voice creased with a feeling she couldn't decipher. "He's already dead."

"Why?" She gave him a violent shake, as if that would make him feel more inclined to answer. "Why did you-"

Bipper rose to his feet so suddenly that Mabel lost her balance, his arm locking around her waist and pulling her close to him. She was trapped in his embrace, feeling the pulse of his heart and the rattle of his breath. "Because, I don't want to hurt you." It was whispered in her ear, an answer just for her.

He pushed her back and looked towards Grunkle Stan, his feet leaving the carpet. "You've lost." A slight smile pushed from beneath the cloth and Bipper vanished from the room. Mabel was left to stare, the echo of his touch still pressed hauntingly against her. She cried.


	9. Chapter 9:What Remains, Remains

**StkAmbln- *laughs manically* You have no idea how fun this is to write.**

 **Arthur Moon- But the point is that the chapters are short.**

 **Have some confusing fluff. I would like to say that there were parts of Weirdmageden III that I called :). I still like my head cannon better tho... :(**

 _I want to hold you._

Chapter 9: What Remains, Remains.

Mabel lay on her bed, gazing at the ceiling devoid of all feeling, like the life had been sucked out of her and replaced with a worn sorrow. Her blanket had been cast on the floor and Waddles was curled up on it. She didn't want to dislodge the pig despite the chill of the nocturnal breeze. Mabel wasn't sure why but she'd started leaving the window open at night, almost like she'd been expecting someone.

Her fingers traced for the hundredth time the journal's golden palm, her eyes drifting shut to close off the pain of her soul from the world. Tonight again she would be woken by horror that she couldn't recall into another hopeless dawn.

"Wow, that's depressing Shooting Star."

Mabel sat up right so quickly that it made her head spin. Standing just in front of her mystery board was Bipper, a casual grin on his face, arms crossed behind his back, his cane resting in his right hand, and his hat sat on her bedside table. He had an arrogant air about him, like he owned the place.

Speaking of which, as Mabel looked around she came to the startling realization that everything was still in color, that she wasn't dreaming. Just before she could scream out for Grunkle Stan, or anyone really, Bipper was leaning over her, a single, slender, black clad finger held aloft in a silencing gesture. "Please don't. I'd hate to do something…. unsavory to whoever you were going to call."

Mabel swallowed, nodding slowly without opening her mouth. Bipper leaned back with a slight sigh, almost like he wanted her to defy him and shout, to give him an excuse to hurt someone.

On cue the warm feeling tingled against her palm again, it only ever happened when Bipper was around in some way. She had to ask, she _needed_ to know. "What you said, about not wanting to hurt me... What did you mean by that?"

Bipper's grin dropped like it was made of lead. He flipped the cane around so that it was in his left hand and sat cross legged in the air next to her bed. The way he floated there made it seem like they were almost the same height. "It's complicated, and I can't tell you."

"Can't or won't?" Mabel, though trying to be guarded, felt like her heart had lightened a bit. Was Bipper really going to talk with her about Him? Would she finally get some answers?

"Yes."

Just as it rose, her heart dropped again. "That isn't very helpful…"

"Who am I trying to help, exactly?"

Mabel stared at him for a while, the thought 'me' popped into her head but she'd dismissed it just as quickly. "What's with the mask?" He'd at least answer that question, right?

"It's my face."

"But… isn't your face is under it, and then how do you see?"

Bipper gave an annoyed huff, "Like I said it's my face," he pointed to the cloth eye, "this is my eye." To punctuate the statement more, the cloth blinked. Mabel jolted, staring at the pattern on Bipper's 'face' move like it was a real eye. "Creepy right?"

She nodded slowly, delighting in the sound of his laugh, it wasn't cruel or cold this time but reminded her of tiny silver bells joyfully tinkling away all of her worries. Mabel wasn't going to be naive about this though. Bipper was Bipper, and she wasn't going to be fooled by him. This was a challenge of wit, a challenge she was going to win. "So, why exactly are you here?"

Bipper stopped. There was silence, not even the crickets chirping, for a solid minute. "Because I made a promise…" She was going to ask him more about that promise when the grin shot back to his face and Bipper extended a burning hand towards her, "Now I hear you're having problems with nightmares. Maybe I can help, for a price of course."

Mabel pulled back from him, it becoming clear what he was after all along. "And what exactly would I have to pay?"

"Give up." Bipper jabbed his cane towards her mystery board.

Mabel's eyes widened. "No!" Her shout was incredulous and furious. That was all Bipper wanted, to keep her from the truth, to get in her way. She'd said before that she was willing to pay anything to get Him back, that was still true. So what if she couldn't sleep easy! Mabel was going to find him, even if she died trying.

Bipper's smile disappeared into a hard line, his coat briefly flashing red. "Alright then, Shooting Star. What about this." He leaned forward, the cane vanishing from existence, and he tapped the spine of His journal.

She looked at it and back at the demon. It was more doable but there was a dread that clung to her, calling her to be cautious. "What do you want with the journal?"

"I want to burn it."

"Wha-"

"There's a certain man that you've put far too much faith in. He needs this little book to end the world."

"G-Grunkle Stan?"

Bipper smiled again, this time it was sinister and unsettling. "Precisely."

Mabel clutched the journal tighter to her chest desperately thinking of some way out of this mess she was in. It certainly didn't help that Bipper was so close, and that he seemed to be a physical being as well. She shook her head quickly, "Something else."

Bipper growled. "Fine." Mabel broke her gaze with his mask staring concernedly at the book in her arms. There was a sudden weight next to her on the bed, causing her to jump. Bipper was laying down next to her, hands pulled up behind his head, the eye on his cloth 'face' closed. "Now, hurry up and go to sleep, Shooting Star."

"W-What do you think you're doing!?"

Before she could really react Bipper had pulled her back down and slapped a hand over her mouth. "What did I say about shouting, jeez."

Mabel squirmed and pried off his gloved palm, turning to glare at Bipper. "I-" Her voice died in her throat at the sight of the demon next to her. While she should have been afraid something stilled her racing heart, leadened her eyes, and forced her breath to slow. Was it fatigue? No, it didn't feel like it. "What did you-"

"Shh, it's okay. Consider this one of my three freebees, Shooting Star. Sleep well."

In spite of her desperation to stay awake Mabel fell into the quiet bliss of unconsciousness. This time the world of shadows was different, bright with a prevailing feeling of peace. Through the cloud of her dreams she could sense Bipper's arms wrapped around her shoulders, cradling her against his chest.

Frustratingly the answers she sought still escaped her grasp, but this time the gap had closed, if only by a slight margin.


	10. Chapter 10: Falling Apart

***Clears throat* I'm so sorry for keep ya'll waiting. There's been a lot of stuff going on with me that I'd rather not go into. But that's not really the reason this message is here. I'm here to WARN you: Bipper is being a creepy bastard. Oh and self harm.**

 **Dipper will not come back... yet... maybe. (I'm such a tease!)**

 **Anyway enjoy Mabel's mental breakdown.**

* * *

 _But I cannot_

Chapter 10: Falling Apart

Mable exploded off her bed in the morning, heaving in a panic. The irritated groan informed her that her unwelcome guest had indeed stayed the night. She pressed herself against the bathroom door, shaking like a leaf, just staring at the groggy demon rub the sleep out of his eyes. Well, that's what she thought he was doing but his mask was determined to block her view of him.

"What are you doing?"

"I uh," Mabel stuttered.

"Nevermind, it's too early for this… Where's my hat." Bipper muttered to himself, groping around on her bedside table for the black silk garment. Once he'd gotten his gloves on it his coat started to glow again and any exhaustion disappeared from his demeanor with a pop. "Well, I've got to get going. Universe to conquer and all that."

"Why?"

"Hu, I dunno, feel like it I guess."

Mabel shook her head, leveling her own brown hues at Bipper's golden mask. "Why did you help me when you got nothing out of it? W-why did you sleep next to me all night?" Despite herself, a light pink rushed onto her cheeks.

"Simple." He moved forward purposefully, trapping her between the door and himself. "You're something special Shooting Star… You make me feel… conflicted."

She kept her gaze locked on his cloth eye, feeling somehow emboldened by his words. "How so?"

Bipper pinched her chin and leered, "Nice try."

Mabel had enough of the demon's coyness. Yes he could probably eradicate her in an instant but he _hadn't_ so there had to be something there. She seized his wrists and stepped forward. While Bipper was off balanced and surprised, Mabel slammed him against the wall. "And you're not getting off that easy."

Her glowing 'prisoner' laughed. "Wow, how did I fall for _that_?" He studied her irritated countenance, undoubtedly picking up on the desperation in her face. "You're a light in the dark, Mabel." She gasped when he used her actual name, the gentle way the word drifted from him sent an angry bolt of pins through her head. "Part of me," with her grip slackening he pulled his wrists free gently holding her shoulders, "wants to protect it above everything; the other part well," Mabel cried out as he clamped down like a vice, pulling her face to his mask 'eye', glowing bright red, "wants to snuff. You. Out."

Desperation to know was replaced by a desperation to escape though every attempt to move was met with pain. It was a simple thing for Bipper to flip her around against the door again. His cloth eye glowing with a predatory tint that sent her into uncontrollable shivers. He leaned into her, taking a deep breath of her hair before giving a contented sigh.

"To say I didn't get anything out of it is an incorrect assumption, Shooting Star. You're, maybe, the only thing I want from this wretched world." Mable leaned away from him as much as possible, heart in her throat still pounding away at a dizzying rate. The feeling of his tongue darting over her neck elicited a stifled scream of shock and Bipper savoured the sound.

"N-no… please…"

One of the demon's hand reached up to gently stroke his fingers through her hair. "Now, now, I'm not going to hurt you. Watching you squirm is so much more _fun_." He pulled back and leered down at her. "Don't pretend to be so brave again. Bravado doesn't suit you."

Bipper took two steps back, looking over her shaking form with palpable lust before tossing a casual wave and vanishing into thin air.

Mabel slid down the door, her legs finally buckling now that the golden-clad demon was gone, trying to swallow her rapidly palpitating heart. Her palm burned intensely from the prolonged contact with Bipper. That wasn't the only thing burning, her throat was tight with anticipation, a tightness in her core that was so unfamiliar. It terrified her. She couldn't catch her breath.

Had Bipper done something to her?

Hre mind scrambled for an answer she just didn't have. The heat wasn't ebbing, if anything it was getting more intense. What was this desire to be near him? It was literally driving her crazy.

Mabel stood without ordering her muscles into action. She wasn't in control of her own movements. _Stop_. Her legs guided her into the bathroom. _Stop it!_ Resting on the sink was a glowing blue dagger, obsidian blade, pinewood handle. Her hand clutched it. _Don't do this!_ The sharp edge was cold against her flesh. It tugged cleanly through the length of her arm. Mabel's mind screamed and thrashed futilely against the action.

One red ribbon.

Two red ribbons.

Three…

Four…

Five…

Five ribbons of blood dripped down her forearm, the rivulets of life brushing against each other, kissing the tender abused skin.

A triangle.

A circle.

A line.

Mabel chokes a sob, feeling the pain that had been held away during the maiming. Her own hand had done this, branded her with his all seeing eye. Why? How?

She had no answers. She _never_ had any answers. She lived because Bipper said she could, and that was all there was to it. Mabel didn't understand it but she didn't have to, didn't need to.

Her hands shook and in the fit of disgust, Mabel threw down the twisted, blood kissed dagger. It vanished.

She crumpled on the floor and wept, nothing but sorrow and agony. Bipper had done it. He had snuffed out her light.


	11. Chapter 11:Lies, Lies, and More Lies

**Neutrino 2000-Nice to hear from ya. Love new-ish faces**

 **Arthur Moon- Shh *cradles you in a hug* It's okay. There there. Soon everything will be clear. Bipper's just creepy. And obsessed with Shooting Star for multiple reasons.**

 **Thank you all for reading. Enjoy this chapter of conflicting intrests. *evil grin***

* * *

 _Somethings are meant to be._

Chapter 11: Lies, Lies, and more Lies

Stan typed away at the old device sleeping under the shack. After years of work he'd finally repaired it. All that's left is getting the three journals then his brother would be back… again.

The old man pinched the bridge of his nose, the onsetting migraine running rampant through his skull. Bipper had done this, locked away memories of the summer's events, but he didn't know Stan as well as he knew Mabel, Soos, and Wendy. He couldn't erase everything. Even then, the memories Bipper had tried to bury didn't stay that way. Mr Mystery is old and senility has started rusting away at locks that wouldn't have been unreliable in young minds.

No, Stan Pines remembered Him. He remembered Bill Cipher too. And Bipper didn't like that.

Speaking of the devil, light footsteps tapped down the hall behind Stan's chair. He didn't need to look to know who it was. After the incident where Mabel evicted the dream demon from his mind, he'd recalled certain events he wasn't permitted to share with anyone. If he did that Bipper really would win. Or at least that seemed to be the case.

"Whatcha' up to Stan?" Bipper's light two-toned voice slid through the air.

"What's it look like, kid." Stan turned from his work to look Bipper in the mask. "Did you get the journal?"

Bipper shrugged his shoulders, a devious grin arching over his face.

"We had a deal." Stan couldn't the growl out his voice. That book his neice held onto for dear life was all he need, just a few pictures of a few pages. He only needed it for at most ten minutes.

"Really? I don't recall shaking on it." The glowing youth tipped lazily back into the air, not caring a stitch about how livid Stan would get. It even seemed like he was trying to provoke a reaction. "You should know better than to trust a demon on their word alone. I did, however, spend a _wonderful_ night with Shooting Star."

"You mother fucker!" Stan hadn't the patients to hold that in. It had been a long time coming and he was going to let this sadistic little shit know it… His anger spluttered out at Bipper's elated expression. This was just another of the demon's attempts at forcing his hand. Typical. "Heh. You really had me going there for a second." Stan leaned back into his chair, giving the demon a knowing glare.

"Oh? What changed your mind?"

"That shit eating grin on your face. Mostly." It was his turn to make a play. Hopefully this time it'll get through. "Then I figured, if there's even a shred of humanity left in ya, you wouldn't hurt a hair on Mabel's head. Fact is you physically _can't_. Isn't that right?" Bipper stiffened. "I saw the way you held her that night, like it was killing you. It jogged my memory a bit. Looks like you didn't do as good a job as you thought, hu?"

"Fuck."

That actually startled Stan, though it probably shouldn't have. "The Journal or I tell her everything." However Bipper reacted would either prove the con-man's theory or shatter it. It was the only hand he had to play.

"Shooting Star isn't going to just up and give it to me. Besides, I get the book for you, you bring back Sixer, and I have twice the annoying Pines Twins to deal with. No thank you."

Stan grinned. The slippery little demon was trying to dodge the threat. It was a relatively obvious switch, trying to focus the conversation on Ford, the only person who was guaranteed to remember everything. Maybe even the only man that could kill Bipper, too. "Fine, but what do you think happens to this little game of yours if Mabel finds out?"

"You wouldn't dare," Bipper's voice was low and menacing. "You wouldn't _fucking dare_." The youth's loafers contacted the floor and it suddenly felt like gravity was increasing around Stan. His arrogant sneer at getting under the demon's skin dissolved under the sudden crushing weight.

Stan collapsed to the floor in front of Bipper's feet, the mask no longer obscuring the view of his face from this angle. The piercing golden-brown eyes bore into his soul and he could do little else but gasp for air that refused to fill his heaving lungs

"Let's make on thing clear, Stan. I _hate_ cheaters. Play the game or die, _**b**_ **u** _t_ _ **d**_ o **n'** _ **t y**_ _o_ **u** _ **b**_ _r_ **e** _ **ak**_ t _ **h**_ **e** _r_ **u** _l_ _ **e**_ **s**."

Just like that the pressure and the being that caused it vanished, leaving Stan to shakily rise to his feet and consider his actions. Bipper was not Bill. This demon didn't underestimate, nor hesitate. This demon was not 'above' throwing away an entertaining toy if it threatened the game. He came close to death just then, and unlike all his prior brushes with it, this time round he didn't know why. That was the most important memory he was missing. Weirdmageden. The Fearamid. The purpose of that obsidian dagger with the pinewood handle. Whose blood coated the blade. The name of the child bleeding out at his feet while Mabel wept into his unmoving chest.

He needed to get Ford back.

Mabel needed the boy back.

Bipper needed to disappear.

This sick little game was almost at an end.


	12. Chapter 12:Confusing Mortals is Fun

**Neutrino 2000- Nice to hear from you again. Hope you are thoroughly confused by the goings on *evil :D face***

 **ICan'tWrite07- ... Neither can I. Spellcheck saves my oss* half the time. When it lets me down I get sad. There are very few fonts I can actually read... :'(**

 ***(see what I mean, I didn't notice this till final posting and am too lazy to fix it... mrah)**

 **Arthur Moon- Are you trying to butter me up? *Is being a total tsudere* W-well it's not going to work!... baka... All that aside, you are going to give me a tooth ache from being such a sweet person. I love to read theories for my readers, so long as it's not direct predictions on thing ;) Also, I see what you did there, commenting on chapter one like that. Very clever.**

 **Marissa Flynn - I'm not going to tell you *evil laughter* An, but that is a major plot point I've been dropping hints at the entire time so I hope people have that perfict blend of "I called it" and "Wtf!" at the end... you are all going to hate me a little I hope, because that means I've done my job :D.**

 **I _love_ comments! They motivate me like nothing else can! That being said, ****dyslexia sucks. I hate it sooooo much! wha! *cough* okay so more of Bipper being kinda creepy and _super_ possessive. You have been warned.**

* * *

 _Just, some things aren't._

Chapter 12: Confusing Mortals is Fun

Mabel didn't know how long she was lying on the bathroom floor, but she finally conceded to move when hunger got the best of her. Today the Shack was empty, closed for business. Wendy and Soos weren't here, Mabel didn't see Grunkle Stan in his chair or in the kitchen. Candy and Grenda might come over if they haven't already. Despite the thoughts of her family and friends running through her mind Mabel didn't feel anything. Just empty. Depressed.

The only time comparable to this was when her hamster died last summer, only this was a thousand times worse. A familiar feeling she associated with her lost boy's absence pressed down on her like a lead vest. All this made even more emotionally draining by the physical pain in her forearm.

Mabel carefully took some rubbing alcohol and a gauze bandage, wrapping the angry red flesh to keep it from getting infected. The last thing she wanted was Grunkle Stan to see this, she couldn't answer for why she did it in the first place. The mental image of that twisted dagger flashed through her consciousness and she shuddered. No! She was not going to think about it. It already hurt enough without having to dwell on it.

She shuffled around the kitchen getting ready to put a brunch together. Mabel didn't see the glowing figure watching her, didn't hear his steps approaching, didn't notice him at all until his arms wrapped around her waist. She was being hugged from behind, gently, tenderly. It was foreign to her.

Bipper's voice was even less what she expected. Serious, dark, and bordering on furious, as opposed to arrogant or amused by her suffering. "What did you do, Shooting Star?"

Mabel sniffed, trying not to cry again. She had done enough of that for today.

Bipper spun her around, pushing her into the counter, and glaring at her with a controlled fury. "Answer me. Now." His hands on her shoulder and her face close enough to his mask that she could feel his shallow breath.

"I-I cut myself."

Bipper hissed in air and snarled. H-He _hadn't_ wanted this? It dawned on Mabel then, that she knew nothing about this demon aside from the burning in her palm whenever he was near.

"I'm sorry." Why was she apologizing? Why did she feel compelled to? Gazing into his mask was an empty gesture. She knew he had real eyes, eyes that she desperately wanted to see. A face she wanted to touch. _Gah! Brain! What are you doing? It's Bipper! Freaking Bipper, stop!_

"Shooting Star," Mabel blinked. Bipper was finally speaking again, his hands like iron clasps on her shoulders. "You're life is _mine_." His voice crackled, silencing her authoritatively. "You are not allowed to throw it away!" He gave her a slight shake. This all only piling more confusion in her mind. Who was Bipper to her now, and why did those word comfort her? More importantly didn't he want to snuff her out? Why did he _care_? Does he even?

"Y-you care about me?" In her drained state her filter wasn't working.

Bipper's grip on her shoulders slacked, his arms wrapping around her waist once again, pulling her to his chest. He didn't say anything but the gesture was enough. His arms cradled her against him and like this she could hear the slow rhythmic pulse of life beneath his ribs. It wasn't something she expected, even though she'd known he had a heart. The sound was human and not at all anxious. Bipper's breathing, too, was calming. Soothing down her defencive bracing. The will holding back her burning tears melted far too easily.

Mabel cried again. Not sad, no she couldn't be sad right now. A light had pierced through the dark cloud in her mind, not as bright nor as strong, but genuine. The warmth in her palm spread through her matching Bipper's warth. It was odd. She should by all accounts hate him but it just wasn't in her.

Mabel hugged him back fiercely. Fighting down the sobs and the hiccups while he rubbed slow circles on her back. All the while painfully aware that she couldn't trust him. Ever.

"Oh, Mabel. I'm the one that's sorry. I'm failing you." Bipper's hold tightened, a desperation she hadn't noticed before in his touch

Hearing him say her name that sweetly threw any feeling of distrust into the far back of her mind. "Please, stay with me again tonight."

"Sure." He let her go and took a step back, straightening out his suit coat and bowtie before sending her a sadistic grin. "I always love your nightmares anyway."

With that he was gone and Mabel felt her heart sink. Tender moment over. Likely never coming back. And she just invited a demon into her bed tonight. She didn't need the trashy tween romance novels to know just how awful that idea had been.

"So, just for the record, I don't like him."

Mabel jumped at the sound of Grunkle Stan's gruff rumble. The elderly man had a sour look on his face and a question mark coffee mug in his hand.

"G-good morning."

"Yeah. Morin'"

This is going to be a long day.


	13. Chapter 13: This Is My Unlucky Number…

**RanibowsAndUnicorns** **\- For your persistent begging and the other reader's enjoyment I suppose I can give you all a clue to what's up. In the form of a cryptogram of course because I** _ **am**_ **evil and this** _ **is**_ **a Gravity Falls fanfic.**

Wsmywrl, Wz dqi gwtt,

M alwry qz kxmeqgk,

Aqnr qz ATQQE mre ZLMN,

Jq xlmn jxl tmkj anlmjx

Nmjjtl qij qz elmjx.

M alwry qz ytqg mre twzl,

Rqj slmrj jq lhln al.

Xl tqhlk jxqiyx

Xl urqgk rq xqg.

Xl atllek jxqiyx,

Xl xmk rqj xlmnj jq bij,

Mre klre pqinwry qij

Xwk bnwskqr nwaaqrk.

M Gmtuwry Kxmeqg

Jxmj lfwkjk wr jxl qhlntmd,

Aljgllr Pwrlk mre Pdnmswek.

 **There. Read it if you can. And, if you feel so inclined, tell me what you think it means.**

* * *

 _I Will Watch Over You,_

Chapter 13: This Is My Unlucky Number…

The office was shady, smoke billowed in the air from a few smokers leaning back against the door. Five men in suits stood around a large metal table. Cold, antiseptic, and harsh smells greeted them severely.

"So, how are we looking, Powers?" An older man rasped through his cigar, the grey whiskers framing his scared mug sending a shiver through the other agents. This man was synonymous with a painful death. Best assassin in the business, and running down the weirdest president in American non-history. All because he and Trigger lost to a twelve year old.

"The anomaly," he tried to hide the nervous tint by clearing his throat, "is growing by the day. Any readings from our global operations point back to Gravity Falls, Oregon."

"Take Trigger and find it, then."

"I-It's not that simple, sir." Powers floundered with a way to explain himself. The glare he was receiving not helping in the slightest.

"I'm afraid he's right on that one." An unfamiliar two toned voice cut over the radio set, slouched in the corner. Powers had actually forgotten it was even here.

"And who are you," the grizzled agent made his way over to the receiver, muttering about how it had been left running.

"Oh?" The voice laughed a bitter, cruel sound dripping with malice. "I _could_ give you my name but you're not really that important are you? No. You aren't part of the game. Powers and Trigger are however."

Every man stiffened, the five casting worried or angered glances at each other.

The voice sniffed, almost as if he had observed the reaction. An ominous air pressed in even more and Power could swear he felt someone brush past him, even though none of the others were in arms reach. "Stay out of Gravity Falls or this time you won't survive. I'll see to that _personally_."

A soft static came from the other end.

"Oh, company. Suppose I'll have to go now. It was nice talking to you after so long. Remember, reality is an illusion, the universe is a hologram, buy gold. Bye~"

There was a loud click and silence filled the dead air.

The old man laughed. "Looks like I'm going to Gravity Falls.

* * *

The old bunker was hidden underneath a tree. Mabel shivered slightly at the updraft of stale air. This mystery felt particularly dangerous, but she could sense that big clues about the Journal were hidden within. The invisible ink had been a huge discovery and she wound up telling Bipper all about it when he arrived for the night.

Admittedly not the best idea, but she was excited from the break through and Bipper seemed to actually be happy for her. The way he smiled at her enthusiasm was gentle and genuine. It didn't seem like his normal self at all, but she liked it. They even had a pillow fight and Mabel courageously complained about his ability to fly. When she did fall asleep, he was holding her gently in mid air, letting her snooze in his lap.

Bipper wasn't there when she woke up, but he did tuck her into the sheets whenever he'd left.

Mabel had decided to get back on the mystery horse whether Bipper wanted her to or not. And no amount of prodding would stop her. She was determined to find answers.

* * *

It was silent here. A field of wheat with the fall breeze rippling through the plants. The gentle rattle of it. Ford had almost missed this place. Almost.

A flash of light interrupted his meditations. "Hello again." Ford's voice was strained and he refused to look at his visitor.

"Aw, that's no way to greet an old pal, Sixer." Bipper walked around to Ford's front, looking up at the taller human with a mischievous grin.

"We aren't friends." His voice was stern, offering no objection.

"Family then," Bipper replied with an equal flatness.

Ford just scowled.

Bipper sighed and tilted back into the air. He seemed to be thinking something over. Never a good sign in Ford's book. "Y'know the offer still stands, Ford. I'd think about it more seriously if I were you." Bipper turned lazily until he was hanging upside down at Ford's eye level, his cloth mask defining the laws of gravity even as the looser curls of his hair complied. "We both know once you make it out of here compromise will not be an option."

"I would rather die than join Bill Cipher's team." Ford stated bluntly his opinion, hoping to get _something_ from the creature.

"Well, I'm _not_ Bill Cipher." Bipper made a pointing gesture, sounding a little like Stanlie trying to close on a deal.

"I know. You're Dipper."

Bipper suddenly turned bright red, bearing his teeth in a snarl, and righting himself. A strong pulse of energy flew off of him, flattening the wheat and almost knocking Ford to the ground.

"I. Am. NOT. Dipper!" The demon roared in an absolute fury.

"Yes you are!" Ford didn't hear the desperation in his own voice; couldn't recognize the need for his great nephew to be alive in there, _somewhere_. All he saw was Bill. It killed him. "Bill's powers are corrupting you! You have to fight it, Dipper!"

"Shut the _hell up_!" Bipper lashed out, slamming Ford into the ground with a kinetic energy field. The gun he'd drawn skittering out of his hand. Bipper crushed it underfoot and laughed, an insane, bloodthirsty laugh. "I tell you, these Pines. They just never fail to _piss me off_." Bipper tapped his own temple. "You've all got the nasty habit of droning on and on." The demon smiled for a moment and then his expression soured, as if he was bothered by a gnat buzzing around his ear.

Bipper took a shallow breath, the red slowly seeping out of his coat. "Maybe I'll just destroy the portal. I don't need it anymore. Two birds, one stone, and all that."

"What about the rift?" Ford quickly deduced it was futile to try standing. "You'd still need _that_ for Weirdmageden."

Bipper smiled, a patronizing, joyless, sadistic smile. Ford's blood was ice.

"Not necessarily." Bipper vanished from sight with a wave, "I'll let you know when I kill Stan, maybe bring back some scraps for you to bury. Bye, Sixer!"

Ford was freed from the force compressing his, much too old, bones into the dirt. He slammed a fist onto the soil and swore under his breath, fighting back the tears that stung his eyes. "I _will_ bring you back, Dipper. And I _will_ end Bill Cipher. No one else is going to die; I swear it. Not even Stan."


	14. Chapter 14: When It All Comes Together

**Alright, Show of hands. How many of you are confused as f-ck right now? … Good. Mwahahahah! I love writing in a simplistic, detail heavy style to let my reader pick up on things. Dramatic irony is the best kind of irony, in my opinion. That being said I'm throwing a bunch of misleading tidbits in there to keep you all guessing. I would like to know how well I'm doing with this so please give some feedback on where you think the story is going (pm only plz, let's not spoilers in the review section, k thx.)**

 **Arthur Moon- This chapter is after Golf Wars, just so we know what's up.**

 **ICan'tWrite07- Here you go :D**

 **Neutrino 2000** **\- 'course he did. He's Ford! Ford** _ **always**_ **knows…**

 **RanibowsAndUnicorns** **\- *sadistic smile* Oh, sweety. Don't thank me; you'll have your heart broken soon enough. *cackles in evil glee***

 _You set my soul on Fire_

Chapter 14: When It All Comes Together.

Mabel toyed with the laptop Soos had fixed up for her, mind wandering back to the bunker. That shape shifter-thing, what it had said… A shudder ran down her spine. She could still picture the axe as she buried into the monster's flesh, the squelching sound of blood and viscera being sliced. It made her sick.

In a bid to distract herself, Mabel flipped through the cryptology book lying open next to her. Cracking the password to this laptop would be a godsend in her quest to find Him. Libraries, the best places in the world to not think about murder.

An unseen hand played with the hem of her sweater causing Mabel to flinch. " _Why not just give up already, Shooting Star? I've already told you, he's dead. This is pointless._ " Bipper's voice itched through her skull while the heat of his presence washed up her sides, like smooth palms over her bare skin. She shuddered.

"No." She hissed under her breath in the general direction of the demon, determined not to be dissuaded.

" _Mabel_ ," Bipper groaned into her ear, the feeling of him pressed flush against her back clearly a hallucination he was using to manipulate her.

"Nope, nice try. Not going to work. I will not be distracted…"

The demon growled in irritation. " _Fine_ ," Mabel choked on nothing. Bipper's intangible grip fastening around her throat. " _Enjoy your nightmares then, Shooting Star. You_ clearly _need space to consider your choices._ " All at once the heat and pressure were gone, as if he'd never been at all.

Ever.

"Bipper?" Her voice scratched slightly…

Nothing.

Was this what being alone felt like? Crushingly empty. Had it only taken a few kind words for the demon to worm his way that deeply into her heart? Really? Mabel dropped her head onto the table surface. It had been going so well these last few days. No nightmares- night terrors more like- no depression, significantly less wrongness, and the emptiness was completely gone. But with Bipper went all of that and Mabel felt like she'd been thrown from a high cliff. Just falling into forever, so sudden, only to splat across the bottom at lethal speed.

It became difficult for her to move, even breathing was a chore. Where had all her energy gone? How did she deal with this before? Her eyes sought out the gold flicker in the Library space, falling on a boy she hadn't been looking for. She hadn't done it intentionally, but her gaze stopped and that little voice, that empty cry, informed her that wooing him was supposed to happen.

Taking her mind off all of this might help… Mabel would throw herself fully into this new event, just to forget that Bipper wasn't there before.

As she talked with the puppeteer, she couldn't help but think of Bipper. Of how he always seemed to have everything planned out to a tee. Of how Bipper was in control. It hurt more somehow. That all this had been orchestrated by Bipper wasn't lost on Mabel. Those eyes she had felt on her since just before finding the Journal weren't focused on her anymore. The gaze had somehow went from disturbing to comforting and now that it too was gone…

She didn't want to think about it.

She couldn't help but think about it.

The boy Mabel spoke with was handsome, to say the least, but she hadn't the will to act on those feelings. A voice nagging through her skull with Bipper's words, 'You're mine,' over and over again. She left him there, promising to see one of his shows later. Mabel knew she wasn't going to attend already, but why leave the poor guy out in the cold like that.

With the laptop under her arm and a sudden lead in her steps, Mabel slogged out into the light summer rain. The pinewood smells and damp squish of leaves leavening her mood just enough to keep her moving. The slightly healed cuts on her forearm itched persistently, not letting her forget the darkness that almost swallowed her.

Mabel rubbed her wrist and the heel of her palm. It no longer tingled, feeling cold and numb now that Bipper wasn't around. She stumbled, wrenching her mind from contemplation just in time to keep balanced. She was staring down a steep drop, less than a centimeter from the plumet that would have ended her life. Her breathing was sporadic, gazing listlessly at the rock beneath her. It would be so easy, to move, to lean forward even a little, and just… drop.

The echo played through her head again, "You're not allowed to throw it away…" Mabel clenched a fist and glared at the rocks with their sharp tempting edges. "Why do you even care?" Her demand was unanswered, but it encouraged instead of suppressed the unreasoned anger rising in her. "Stop running away and dancing around the truth! Who are you to me? Why do you want to keep me away from Him? Can't you see that not know is _killing_ me?!"

Mabel screamed into the rain, anger, sadness, confusion, desperation, and fear each taking a note in the discordant cry. It echoed into the valley, calling back to her all that she had said, demanding, placating, and affirming her heart's aches.

With a sign, Mabel dropped onto the ground, her legs dangle over empty air and she set the laptop on her knees, pulling out her journal and flipping through the pages. Each creature strange and new in her eyes all over again. She went back to before the summer, before Gravity Falls, playing through events that hadn't added up.

"Who is He?" She pondered aloud, mulling over modified memories. A constellation rose to the front of her mind, declaring prominence in slightly darkened skin. A pattern on a forehead of someone she once knew. "Dipper."

That word was a key to a flood gate. The pour of knowledge, while incomplete, drowned her mind in ecstatic agony and she cried out. Each throb of her heart sending thousands of knife through her skull, piercing into her limbs. There was no numbness anymore. Her very soul was on fire with truth. Her lost one's name is Dipper Pines, her twin brother, and he is dead.


	15. Chapter 15:A Step Too Far

**I'm still here, have something to eat away at your soul for a while. Go on, try to puzzle it out. I'll be here, feeding off the misery. *evil laughter ensues***

 **I should be getting a lot more free time to write in the near future and hopefully I can end this on a good note (or in this case one that will have you feels-ing hard for a week)**

* * *

 _I heard your call; please stop looking._

Chapter 15: A Step Too Far

I froze. Every inch. Not even a wisp of air to fly from my lungs.

The name. I heard her murmur it to the wind like some ill kept secret. And it hurts. And it _burns_. Burns my mind. Burns my body. Burns my soul.

I'm being ripped in half and it _b_ **u** r ** _ns_**.

Fire in my heart, consuming me from the inside out. All I feel is contempt. Contempt for the pain, for the joy of hearing that name from her lips. A brush of poison in the air to fall as lead in my ears, ringing. The noise of it, static and screams. The searing edge of a blade in my chest. Red seeped into my coat, though dark, warm, and clotting. It's not light that patterns me, but blood. My own life surging out with each frigid palpitation.

It hurts.

I want to be numb.

I love it though.

All this passes in seconds, my presence removed from her is pulled back. She has pulled me back, weeping there on the prepis of life and death. She does not jump. Shooting Star clutched the journal to her chest, heaving sob after sob onto the aged leather, and I watch her.

I will always watch her; whether I am greeted warmly to flug wrath, I will watch. Because she is mine.

Shooting Star turned towards me, eye seeking what they could not detect but the soul had. She knows I am here. I want to go to her, so strongly he wants to comfort her, but I cannot. I'll not be 'me' if I relent.

He knew the consequences of his action, and took them to his grave. I am not him. His will cannot _ever_ compel me to do anything. I will not cease to be. I… am afraid of it.

My hand covered over my bleeding heart, gold licking away the spilt blood just as it had before.

I suppose this means I have won. Funny, I do not feel victorious. Today, I lost something. Today Shooting Sta- Mabel will not smile, and I may never see that same glowing joy again. The light is gone, all I see is darkness.

Perhaps she sees me for a moment I wavered, but then I am gone.

It's too bad.

I tried to give you a second chance.


	16. Days Till Weirdmageden: 3

What? did you think this was over?

I'm afraid that's simply not the case. I knew it wouldn't be enough to just kill you, You'd bide you time then come back and, well, I don't have the cowardice in me just to push you off on someone else. Look at where we are, floating amid a swirling mass of energy. A storm. That's us. It'll condense soon enough and we will cease to be.

 _You wouldn't… Stuck with me forever… I don't believe you._

What you believe is irrelevant, Bill. If you just come back then all of this suffering was for nothing and I can't let that happen.

 _Your family will hate you, because of me._

Not all of them…

 _Yes, Shooting Star? She'll be so disappointed in you, never look at you the same way again, either. You don't know humans as well as I, Pine Tree. They are hateful and loathsome and short sighted. Once she realizes her dear "brobro" isn't in there anymore, she'll hate you with a passion._

So be it.

 _That's it then?! "So be it;" is that all you have to say?!_

I've made my peace with this Bill. I beat you finally and now it is out of our hands.

 _I'll never stop trying to be free. Your pathetic magic can't hold me forever._

That's where you're wrong. Once this is finished it won't be my will holding us together. It'll be his. If there is one thing I can count on with my "limited knowledge" of humans it's that he will fight tooth and nail to live. That tenacity is what we are know for, right?

 _I hate you Pine Tree._

I hate you too, Bill.

...B _u_ t, _I_ c _a_ n _n_ e _v_ e _r_ h _at_ e _M_ a _b_ e _l._

* * *

"Mabel…"

She nearly jumped out of her skin, a particularly dangerous thing seeing where she was sitting. "B-Bipper!" Mabel whipped around to face the glowing figure. Something like golden dust danced through the air around him. Her eyes sought the set hidden beneath his living cloth mask.

He didn't speak, extending a hand towards her, palm upward. It was an invitation, an apology. She crawled away from the edge and took the first steps towards the light only to stop dead in her tracks. Her sweater damp from the rain bunched against her sides, weighed on her shoulders and a thought occurred to her. A theory that she simply needed to test. If she turned now and walked off the cliff, would he save her. If she fell to her death would he care.

Mabel's life may belong to him, but he'd left her just as easily. Let her drown in theses dark thoughts. And now she knew that there was something important he was keeping from her. He knew what happened to her Dipper, what became of her brother. While her heart weapt with the sky for his loss, that odd sense of warmth from the dream demon unsettled her now more than ever.

Yes. Mabel took a step back, vision blurred by recently shed tears. She saw the brief confusion and hurt flicker over the cloth features.

She needed to know.

Without hesitation, Mabel turned on her heel and launched her full weight forward that short span and into open space. Her heart hammered faster than she ever thought possible as the sickening feeling of zero gravity set in. Then she was falling. Falling like the rain, adding her own salted drops to the downpour.

It was an eternity hurtling away, every wrong moment in her life that should be occupied by another whipping by like the rock face beside her. Where did she find the courage to look down as she plummeted to an early grave?

The rocks as the bottom seemed almost to reach upward, eager to impale her, bite into her flesh and lap at the rain diluted blood.

Ice flowed up her limbs. No one was coming. Bipper didn't move to save her.

The stone was less than seconds away now, it had never been more than that but it had felt so distant; a moment that would never come. But here it is right now. It would stab through her eye first and rupture out the back of her skull. Another one there would eviscerate her stomach. That other will tear open her leg.

Mabel's stomach hardly had time to flip. She closed her eyes, suddenly, horribly afraid. Afraid of dying,as she never thought she could be. The mark on her arm burned and the warmth in her palm had abandoned her. She was going to die. And Bipper would be furious.

… But nothing happened.

Rain. She couldn't feel the wetness anymore. She wasn't falling anymore. Did… Did she die so quickly she couldn't even process the pain?

Her feet were on something solid, legs holding up her weight fine enough. Mabel opened her eyes, watery and red from it all. Gold took up her entire vision. In the next second her gaze snapped violently to the side, away from the light as pain exploded over the right side of her face. Bipper had just slapped her.

" _W_ _ **h**_ **a** _t t_ **h** _ **e h**_ e _ **l**_ **l** _ **d**_ o _y_ _ **o**_ **u** _ **t**_ _h_ _ **i**_ **n** _k_ _ **y**_ **o** _u w_ e _ **re d**_ **o** _i_ _ **n**_ **g** _!_ **?** " He grabbed her shoulders and slammed her against a wall, barely illuminated by his red sparking glow. " **I** _ **to**_ _l_ d _**yo**_ u, **y** _ **o**_ _u_ **a** _r_ _ **en**_ 't **a** _ **l**_ l _ **o**_ _w_ **e** _d_ t _ **o d**_ o **t** _h_ _ **a**_ t. _**D**_ o _**no**_ t **d** _ **i**_ _s_ _ **o**_ **b** _ **e**_ y **m** _e_ _ **ag**_ a _ **in**_ **,** **S** _ **h**_ _o_ **o** _ **t**_ _i_ _ **n**_ **g** _S_ _ **t**_ **a** _ **r**_."

His hands were warm. Even though his words were wrathful, his hands were so _warm_.

Mabel was crying a lot today, but for some reason she didn't care anymore. Bipper glared down at her but even that was better than the alternative. Gods she had been such a fool to jump like that. For just a second, Mabel didn't think she would mind giving up on Dipper, if only to keep the being in front of her now.

Her arms broke the dream demon's grip and latched themselves around his waist with no prompting, broken sobs filled apologies tumbling from her mouth. All the adrenaline and pain came down over her head like a wave and she shook against his chest, weeping into the gold. All traces of red seeped out of Bipper's light and he returned the embrace.

He signed into her hair. "Never scare me like that again, idiot."


	17. Repricusion of Rememberance

**Remember that cyrptogram, well it's been a while and no one has come up with the answer (or at least hasn't told me about it). So here is the translation, I caught a word swap typo and had an OCD attack. It wasn't pretty.**

Imagine, If you will,

A being of shadows,

Born of BLOOD and FEAR,

To hear the last breath

Rattle out of death.

A being of glow and life,

Not meant to ever be.

He loves though

He knows not how.

He bleeds though

He has no heart to cut,

And send pouring out

His crimson ribbons.

A Walking Shadow

That exists in the overlay,

Between Pines and Pyramids.

 **Also the italicized text at the start of each chapter is important in it's own way. I'm still not going to tell you, but here it all is. Tease your brains some.**

 _Dipper Pines is dead._

 _Mabel Pines can't remember him._

 _Stan Pines is a liar._

 _Bill Cipher has come and gone._

 _Lil' Gideon has big plans._

 _Mabel won't find him in time._

 _He didn't want her to remember._

 _I am not him._

 _I want to hold you._

 _But I cannot_

 _Somethings are meant to be._

 _Just, some things aren't._

 _I Will Watch Over You,_

 _You set my soul on Fire_

 _I heard your call; please stop looking._

 _We're out of time, the game is done._

 **RanibowsAndUnicorns -That is the point. Or it was the point? Great, Now I'm confused too. :/**

 **Neutrino 2000 - Why thank you! Bipper can be cute when he wants... er sort of...**

 **Guest- Because a. Evil b. Evil. and c. I find it hilarious.**

* * *

Chapter 16: Repercussions of Remembrance.

Bipper breathed a sigh into her hair, lifting Mabel off the floor with him. Flying had scared her before, the feeling causing her stomach to turn. It was too soon to have her feet off solid ground but... His arms were strong and warm and Mabel found she didn't mind so much. "The first key has been placed then."

Er... What? She looked up at him, brows knitting together.

Her body was slammed with a soul aching pain and she shuddered into his chest. If before had been tapping the dam, this was unlocking the floodgates. His voice, His face, everything that she and her brother ever did, ever were, bloomed to life in her mind. She remembered Dipper, all of him. The halloweens, the school photos, the joy, the fights, the sleepless nights. Dipper would curl into her side during thunderstorms when they were little. She would pull him close and hold him... Hold him just like how Bipper holds her now actually.

Mabel's eyes shone with tears. That knife, the one she used to brand herself, it was the same knife that stole Dipper's life. The knife he stabbed into his heart to save her, to save everyone. She reached a hand up to cup the demon's face, hand sliding under the golden fabric that hid it. Even without seeing, she recognized the curves and divots of her twins cheeks. This time, he did not stop her from lifting the veil, those soft golden-brown eyes staring down at her stole the breath from her lungs. His face, Dipper's face. Bill Cipher. Dipper Pines. She had named this demon on this very day in the summer that ceased to be.

"Why? Why do you look like my brother? Why are you using that name? I don't understand!" Her hands gripped the fabric of his sleeves with more strength than she thought herself capable of. "Tell me!"

"You know the answer to that already, Mabel."

Her mind thundered. The Fearamid. Bill in monstrous form had them pinned, someone needed to make a sacrifice play. Dipper had been prepared. "I'll do it!" His little voice shouted, stopping the enraged demon in his tracks. "I'll tell you how to escape Gravity Falls, I just want one thing, leave Mabel alone. I don't care what happens to Soos, or Wendy, or Grunkle Stan, or anyone else, you never hurt Mabel!"

Bill laughed. "Really, Pinetree? After all this you're only making a bargain for one human? Fine, I can do that easily. C'mere and we'll _shake_ _on_ _it_."

"Dipper, what are yo-" Ford reached out to grab Dipper's shoulder, to stop him, but the young boy shoved him off, wheeling to face the older man with a determined glare.

"I'm sick of loosing."

"Dipper?" Her voice was weak as she reached for him. His gaze softened but he didn't stop. Bill shrunk to a more approachable size extending a flaming hand. Dipper took it with a smile and then... everything happened so fast. Dipper gripped Cipher's hand like a vice and yanked the demon forward just as he pulled the obsidian dagger from his pocket. A long slash through Bill's arm sent the golden figure tearing back and cradling his wounded limb while it regenerated. "You INSOLENT LITTL-"

Shnk! Dipper wasted no time after the black icor of Cipher's coated the blade. He thrust it down into his own heart will the the strength he could muster. For an eternity in a heartbeat, no one moved. No one even breathed. Then Dipper smiled and coughed once, blood splattering over the stone as he dropped. Mabel scream and tore free of Grunkle Stan's hold, gripping onto her twin blood shirt as she desperately shook him. "I... win..." How dare Dipper look so peaceful.

Bill shirked, drawing her attention. An orange-glow glow cracked and burned over his body. "Pinetree, what did you do? WHAT DID YOU DO!?" The demon's voice broke as he tried to remove the gold from himself. The minions Bill had gathered looked on in horror and confusion as their master was consumed by the light and shattered into thousands of little stars. Dust and light swirling in a storm cloud near the roof.

Dipper laughed weakly and Mabel seized his hand. She pressed their palms together, desperate to keep his warmth, his life, right here. "Don't leave! Don't you dare leave me Dipper!"

Stan rushed forward, dropping onto his knees on Dipper's other side. Ford stared up like the other minions, though his eye were wide with horror and understanding. "What have you done, Dipper?" He turned to them all, tears stinging at the corner of his eyes, a face torn with rage and sadness. "You damn fool, what have you done?!"

Dipper's eyes dulled and his hand slipped from Mabel's grip. Ever so slowly, golden marks traced along his arms and torso. His body lifted off the ground turning to dust from the tips of his fingers, hair, and toes. Mabel's twin let out one last shuddering breath before he too burst into starlight. "NO!" She shrieked, trying to grab a handful, to cling to anything. Dipper was her twin, her mirror. She can't lose him, not like this. Their too young. His hat landed on the ground before her. He's only had it one summer but... She grabbed onto it, holding the soft material against her face as she wept. Never meant to be alone, she's- she's not supposed to-

Grunkle Stan pulled her into a tight embrace. The golden dust rippling through the air above them.

Then, there was a loud sound, like thunder or an earthquake. It shook the fearamid to its floating foundations. Within that swirling stormcloud of starshine was a human figure. The light condensed down to a point. Bipper. He took a gasping breath and dropped, nearly impacting the stone. Golden tailcoat and all, well all but the mask. Bipper blinked a few times, righting himself and feeling around his arms and chest. He started laughing, soft at first but it grew more unhinged by the second. "Wow! Pinetree, Pinetree, Pintree. I did not expect that from you. I don't know wether to be livid or proud." Bipper had a very Bill smile that slipped from his expression as he kept feeling over his own skin. He lifted his hands to his face. "Ah, I feel so... powerful. Bill is this how it is to be you. It's..." A mad grin burst over his face and he shot upward into the air. "It's fucking fantastic!"

The new dream demon stopped to examine his appearance in a more reflective stone. "I look good, but there's something missing. Ah! I know, a hat. I've always had a hat." Bipper dropped to the ground again, pacing quickly over to Mabel and plucking the baseball cap from her grip. With a slight twirl of Dipper's signature cap, Bipper had turned it into a top hat, placing it on his head only for the felt to pop up into the air again.

"Dipper?" She reached forward and Bipper cocked an eyebrow at her.

Ford pushed his way in front of her and Grunkle Stan, memory gun aimed at the demon's head. "That isn't Dipper, Mabel. It's Cipher, just using him now, like a puppet."

He snorted a laugh. "I thought you of all people would know better than that, Sixer." Bipper grabbed Ford's collar and yanked the old man into the air with him. "I'm not Bill Cipher, I'm not Dipper Pines either. I'm both, I'm neither. I. AM. ME!" The fury in those golden eyes. It shattered Mabel's memories and thrust her back into the present.

"Bipper," Her voice wavered pitifully, hands tangled in her hair. It felt like someone was driving an ice pick into her skull.

"Shhh," Bipper placed her head into the joint of his neck and shoulder and started humming softly. "I know it hurts Mabel. but this is what you wanted, remember? You wanted to know so badly, even after you begged me to forget. I told you this would happen." His hands stroked her back in soothing circles and her awareness dropped into blissful numbness.


	18. Chapter 18: Requiem of the Fall

**You guys better be ready for drama. The end is nigh.**

* * *

 **Chapter 18: Requiem of the Fall**

Her eyes twitched in her sleep. My hand stilled on her back, just cradling the fragile human weight in my arms. She was going through so much. That promise I made, I yearned to break it just as much as I felt compelled to uphold it. Mabel, at least, would be safe.

"Keep dreaming, Shooting Star." The curls of her hair tickled my lips. "Keep dreaming and never awaken."

My power surged forth in sheens of gold and orange, lifting her from my hands and anchoring her wounded figure within. It was like watching a pillar of amber form. The reality bending 'magic' stretched and branched as her mind grew through it, providing a inner light that hurt to look directly at. Like a star had fallen to earth and from it sprung a tree. A pine tree.

I felt my face quirk slightly. Not quite a full on leer, but not a kindly smile either. I shot out through the window, watching from a distance as the tree of Mabel's dreams rapidly began to overtake the shack. The growth was no longer under my control now, anything swallowed by the gnarled roots and expanding canopy dissolving into the tree itself, becoming part of Mabel's dream. She once wished for a summer that never ended, now she would have a whole world for her mind to shape. He was not so foolish as leave the 'bark' soft. No one would get to his precious Shooting Star if he had _anything_ to say about it.

Even Ford's underground lab had likely been overtaken by the dream now. Sixer was never coming back... he was safe.

Stan though. Stan watched as well, having fled the building just in time and fallen some distance back into the woods. The old man wore an expression of horror and shock before casting his gaze up to me. Then, then he fell to his knees.

I smiled, part of me truly pleased at his loss of all will. The turf beside him was soft underfoot, it would have been a pleasant place to linger had I not known air to be much softer.

"What have you done?" Stan crocked, his heavy hands wrapped around the natural tree roots beneath him.

"What did you think I would do when one of the circle found out about me? The rest of those repressed memories should come flooding back, but without the full zodiac, I won't be losing any power at all." I eyed Stan from the side, smile spreading to that impossible, inhuman width that Bill seemed to love so much. "I eliminated a threat. Shooting Star will never wake again."

"You bastard!" Stan shouted, surging to his feet to grab my collar. All powerful dream demon I may be, but I still had the same physical mass as a human twelve year old. Or at least, it's the form I preferred. With my feet dangling in the air and gravity still at work, I settled into a calm and detached manor.

"It's really too bad, Stan. All you had to do was get her to last through the summer. You had the script, you knew the lines. It seems you just suck at improv." My eyes flashed blue and the human let out a frustrated snarl.

"I'll rip you apart, you smug little-"

"And be killing both of your charges in the process."

Stan froze, it seemed that his anger had burned into an everlasting heat, but at least he kept his head this time around. "...What?" He had the stage whisper down at least.

I chuckled, letting my flight kick in again. I crushed both of Stan's hands, changing the angle of this encounter so I was staring down on him. "It's funny how many times I've seen this, Stan. You get better each time, but you still can't seem to keep a lid on that anger of yours."

"Each time?"

I reveled, if only a little, in the confused, horrified eyes. One could practically see the pieces falling into place.

"I- I've lived all this before. Even this moment... and... and... Oh god, Ford."

I let his go as he fell back to the earth, looking with a tearful snarl on what had once been the Shack.

"Weirdmagedon is coming back, Stan. You should prepare for the battle ahead." I let my feet touch down again, observing how Mabel's dream flourished under the reddening sky."

"Don't you still need Ford, otherwise you're still stuck in Gravity Falls?"

Oh that desperate hope in his voice made me flinch. "Don't be silly, Pines. I don't need anyone, not when I've read all of his research and even taken lessons from the man in a past life." His smile wasn't broad and insane this time, it was a small warm shape that felt more natural for this face. "I haven't needed him before, and I've had quite a long time to figure it out."

"H-how many times have we done this?"

I looked at him, defeated and old and sad. It hurt. "I've lost count..." A sigh pulled from my chest, the glow of my coat marking the trees as I slowly rose to the sky. "Far too many times. This one... this one will be the last I think."

This one will be...

My arms spread into the air, black crawling over my form, the hard lines of my figure glowing in a myriad of colors, bright like a star and the sphere of reality formed around me. Six arms, my body separated into segments, if only for a moment. It hurt, but in a good way. The fissure formed in the sky, painting it fully in shades of red and pulling wide, over the whole side of the earth. Sky turned to stone, the Fearamid in all it's glory taking position directly beneath the fissure's apex.

The minions that Bill once had at his beck and call landed before me, and I surveyed my army. A smile broke over my face, the golden glow of my pupils flicking over them each in turn.

"Bipper!" They knelt before me.

" **Th** _is_ _**o**_ n _ **e w**_ _i_ l _ **l**_ **b** _e T_ h _ **e**_ _E_ **n** d **!** "


End file.
